Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1887-12-08

knows that the heavier particles of
gold, no matter what may have been
their position in the drift when it was
first deposited. will not rest easy until
they have reached the rock bed and
found crevicc for their grave. And
so he sinks the shaft to the bedrock.
twelve feet or more. H. drifts east
along the rock. he drifts west north
and south, and finds the precious stuff
everywhere. but not in sufficient
quantities to pay
Again he is up on that cliff How
did he manage 10 scale those perpen-
dicular walls which form its sides? 1t
seems rs though nothing but bird
could find n foo,hold, and yet there he
is dancing wildly around something
that glitters in the sunlight like an
enormous ball of silver That pie
is ore. rich in silver and lead. He
Las just dug it out of the ground. Is
it any wonder. then, that he is in an
ecstacy of delight. for it seems as
though he had struck it rich
ut last. A little assistance from
capital is all he requires now to be-
come Il millionaire. He sits down for
with a ycarning look in his soft gray
eyes He is thinking, perhaps, of the
home of his childhood, and how he has
met with success at last. He leaps
into the pit again and digs away for
dear life. Bat the walls of the lode
have suddenly come together 1t was
merely a pocket of ore. and will never
make him rich or any body else; and
fortune. who seemed SO near to HIM
moment ago. is as far away as ever.
The "pinching OUT of that lode
only disheartens our prospector for a
moment or so, for there he is now
driving tunnel at the foot of that
granite boss. There is fine lot of
ore lying at the mouth of the opening.
1t is sugary. comfy. drusy quartz
and is sprinkled here and there with
gold. Carefully examine the granite
walls of the lode and see how clean
they are. The most skillful workman
could not have made them SO smooth
or polished them half so we'll OBJ
serve those shining punches of crystals
there in the heading. a sure sign that
the vein is live one. 1t is six feet
between walls, and the lead matter
averages forty dollars per ton. 1t is
surely a rich ledge and the miners
fondest hope may yet he realized.
But who are those two men who have
Just come over the crest of the hill
above the tunnel? Oae of them has
wooden box under his arm. 1t has no
cover, and there is Il paper containing
some writing fastened on the inner
side of its bottom. They are villain-
ous-looking pair, these two, and are
there for no good purpos G. See how
they crawl along. almost on their
s:omachs. They conduct themselves
as though some one might see them
and make Il target of their worthless
carcasses. But nobody molests them.
They have come to Il halt, set the box
down on its end and piled loose rocks
around it TO keep it in place, and then
sneak off the way they came, like a
couple of cowardly coyotes, which
they closely resemble.
These two WORTHLESS belong to that
disreputable class known here in the
West rs ''claim jumpers. They have
been sent out by some covctous spccu-
lator. who wants the earth, and who
sticks at nothing TO get it, or at least
y large slice of it. He has learned in
some way of this promising pros
pcct, and has engaged those
wretches 10 post notice thereon
claiming the property There will be
a fierce dispute over it now. The mat
ter will be brought into the courts and
will probably be settled some time in
the next decade. 1t will be n conflict
of the friendlesS and pcnniless against
the rich and influential. Might, and
not right. generally wins in such cases,
not through any fault of those who
administer the law, but because of the
poverty of the rightful owner and the
law itself.
Such is The real life of gold hunter.
except in few cases. After years of
exhausting toll, and JUS when his eff
forts are about to be crowned with
success, others step in and steal the
fruits of his laborS, or by trickery and
fraud reap the harvest which he has
sown. Those who so wrong him are
highly honored and respected in the
communities where they reside. while
he. who first planted the standard of
civilization in the Western wilds. and
won Il vast empire frcm the wilder
ness. steals into an unknown grave -
Helena (Mon.) Cor. ~ y World.